I saw this in a magazine and my wonderfull husband constructed two of them for me. Usually, we hang the grown lights from the ceiling where I grow my seedlings...but that is a cumbersome job because the ceilings are high...plus they need removed every time we are finished growing the plants...

This takes minutes to construct and since we do not glue the joints, its totally collapsible...we intend to get a couple of y joints to replace the elbow joints... so we can make a trellis to grow cucumbers and beans on....I will have to purchase some longer pipes for the legs though...but we will post pics on that once we make it....I don't like to start our plants too soon, Or I will get hugh plants and they will tend to get a little leggy because there is no substitute for natural sunlight...and to our southern friends, these plants probably look puny....but remember, we still can't plant outside for another 2 weeks or more....The grow light is a shop light with grow light bulbs...available at any big box store...I love this set up, it allows me to adjust the light as the plants grow.I couldn't get the whole thing in the pic, but you get the idea here.

Elbow joint

T joints for the leg stand

Plants under the lightsI specifically took a pic of these plants to show you how "leggy" they were...this is because I didn't get them under the lights quick enough. it doesn't matter, because these plants are ready to be re potted. I will plant the entire plant in soil up to the last 4 to 6 leaves. The planted stem will grow roots, thus making a very sturdy plant with a nice root system... You can do this with tomatoes, peppers , cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants. I will post pic of this once I re pot them...

hahahah....no, those are the ready made peat pellets that you can buy. I wish I didn't have to work full time, because I would do every thing myself including making my own soil for the toilet paper roll starting pots..as it is now, I only do one thing each year....either make my own pots, or make my own soil....and sometimes I do neither...I just buy the peat pots......hahahah!

I guess I better be just thankfull for a nice job...things are looking pretty desperate in the job market now!

My old job gave me access to a lot of toilet paper rolls...it was the kind of place that I could ask the janitors to save them for me....At my new job, Lot's of folks would save them for me, it's just that if the economy doesn't go for broke, I'm going to redo my garden and give it a break from growing...(I say this every year and never seem to do it) hahah.

One thing I desperately need is a greenhouse...I have all the nice windows to make one, I just need the manpower....oh well, my husband tells me that without dreams and goals, we will die....I tend to agree with him....but I'm not sure there is enough time in a lifetime to do all the things I want to do.

1) i increased the spacing between rows to 3 feet2) doubled the normal spacing between hills and sets.

this reduced the demand for nutirants and water

3) as soon as seeds were planted, i lay a layer of either cardboard(from pizza boxes or shipping boxes)..or newspaper(3 layers deep). this was covered/weigh down by a thin layer of grass clippings4) as soon as the seedlings were tall enough, the rows were hand weeded and mulched with last years fall leves5)thru out the summer, the row mulch was added to as grass clippings became available.6) any weeds that made it thru the mulch were pulled and dropped back in place

there was very minimal hoeing..there just weren't that many weedseverything i put in the garden, paper products, grass clippings, kitchen waist, stalks and plant vines, will be left, un tilled over the winter to break down and build the soil.i am collecting the last of the neighborhood grass clippings and as many bags of leaves as i can for next yead.the plan for next year is to NOT TILL prior to planting..get in as soon as possable.plant as densly as possable, and mulch from day 1.again, weeds will be pulled and dropped..

If we have a short winter like we did last go 'round (I could have planted in late February if I'd been on the ball), I might actually be able to get a small quick batch of veggies in before it's time to move in June.

One of the sucky things about life in the military: they try to move you during summer break for schools if they can, which messes with trying to have a vegetable gardening.